Art, craft, projects and life with Gillian Cooper...
Artist, Tutor, Writer and Mother

Monday, 27 June 2016

Out & About: Glasgow Botanic Gardens

Each of the C&G Patchwork and Quilting courses I run have a four day summer school in June. The two Certificate Groups each had a day out to the Botanic Gardens so we could be inspired, learn to look and to sketch.

The weather couldn't have been more different between the two days. For the first group it drizzled and wasn't very pleasant, making drawing outside interesting, especially if water soluble pencils were being used! However, we spent some fantastic time in the green houses and the Keble Palace fernery.

The second group struck lucky with the weather and I ended up with mild sunburn. However, this meant that the glasshouses were not conducive to spending lots of time in them as they were so hot... and we are Scottish and not used to it.

The aim wasn't to create beautiful drawings, but useful sketches and ideas to then move into fabric. And this was definitely achieved by both groups.

Although beforehand some were a bit hesitant about drawing in public, I think everyone enjoyed it and we all agreed that you see so much more when you slow down and attempt to draw something rather than just snapping with your camera and thinking you'll do something with it later. At least if you have tried to draw it when you come to do something later you understand it better.

The plants had been watered just before I took this photo

Having said all that, all of these images are photos that I took! I did do some drawing as well, although, of course, I was there to teach the others, not to spend time coming up with new ideas myself. I have already made some more drawings based on my photos and initial sketches and some thermofax screens of poppies. So I've got plenty of ideas to work on over the summer when I'm having a break from teaching... not that I will have that much time as the kids are off from school!